OT: Traveling, Eating, oh my!

Today I embark on a 9 day business trip to Washington State. I think I am prepared.

The issue always has been that business travel corralates to increase in weight gain for me, not much tracking of food, and not much working out. These gains can be crazy.... 2 to 10 pound increases. Yikes.

So, my flight is in the evening, my dinner is made and I will bring on the plane. I also packed a lot of snacks like hummus, carrots, airpopped popcorn and Laura Bars. I also have apples and oranges too.

I have pretracked all my food today as well.

I decided to get a different hotel that has kitchens in each room. Bringing a scale as well to measure food. I plan to cook my dinners on the last half of the trip. I know this might be overboard but traveling is a pinch point for me in my journey so far.

I know where all the gyms are and plan to go. I also have planned to go to a WW meeting or two as well.

I am well prepared I believe.

I will be seeing a lot of friends too on the off time which means going out to dinner and lunches all over the place. This will happen at the front end of the trip so I will tackle this too. Restaurant eating, when on business trips, have been tough. A friend mentioned salad with lean protein. I may go that route bc I love salads. We will see how that plans out.

So, my flight is in the evening, my dinner is made and I will bring on the plane. I also packed a lot of snacks like hummus, carrots, airpopped popcorn and Laura Bars. I also have apples and oranges too.

Are you planning on eating all that during the flight? And did you ask Laura for permission to take her bars?

"I've wanted you to succeed, but watching you find excuse after excuse after excuse and then laugh it off as the loveable, quirky, chubby guy is getting old."--Ill.Clyde

It looks like you travel quite a bit. Can you get a folding bike/Bike Friday you can put in a suitcase to take with you? (I realize that for many of us, our weight would prohibit us from easily getting such a bike, but for others it might work).

I am positive it can be done. Its not easy but it can be done. I try and find places like subway for lunch or dinner and eat in my room. I eat veggie subs, or occasionally tuna subs. Mexican or chinese and get rice and beans burritos, or rice and veggies...very filling and tasty to boot, and low calories. I hit grocery store salad bars once or twice a week when i am on the road for dinner...easy to get a large portion of lettuce and spinach with veggies thrown in, or even roast chicken if thats what you want for a bit more protein.

Most every restaurant I have been in will do custom items if you ask. Even when I was completely vegan I was able to make that work on the road.

I stay in hampton inns and have oatmeal with splenda and raisins for breakfast, or I take two slices of wheat toast and make a scrambled egg sandwich with hot sauce. There are always bananas or even yogurt if you want them.

It can get monotonous, and its a bit of peer pressure when you are in a business group, but I have yet to have any negative experiences. Last week I was with a client at lunch, and we went to a diner dive type place. Nothing on the menu was remotely healthy. I finally found what they called a veggie pancake. It was a huge pancake filled with roast veggies (the pancake was flipped in half like an omelet) I just asked for it without cheese, opened it up and ate the veggies...dont think anyone at the table even looked at me funny.

It looks like you travel quite a bit. Can you get a folding bike/Bike Friday you can put in a suitcase to take with you? (I realize that for many of us, our weight would prohibit us from easily getting such a bike, but for others it might work).

Just planting seeds...

Cheers,
Charles

This is what I try to do when I travel. I try all kinds of things to get my hands on a bike; borrow,rent, buy, etc.
But then I just realized it's better if I have a folder to take with me on my trips. Good planning on Chef's part to
prepare most of his meals.

I used to travel extensively, and for me, not only was the eating the wrong foods at restaurants a problem, boredom eating was a far bigger problem. The only thing I ever did that was remotely successful was to limit myself to meats, salads and vegetables. If I started on pastas, breads, sweets and sandwiches I was a goner, and rapid weight gain was the result. Its also a good reminder of how ready the body is to regain weight. I have been told at a weight loss clinic that fat cells, once grown, never die off, they just stay there, empty and ready to swell back up with fat as soon as possible. Travel diets tend to make that possible.

Not eating all that. But if I do not have healthy options, I am screwed.

What did Yuri have to say about that?

One problem I see is that you may end up snacking AND then eating bad stuff out. Snacking is a huge problem in this country according to the book "Fat Land." If it were me, I would make it more difficult to snack by leaving them at home.

On the subject of salads, there are some healthy sounding salads at some chain places that are very high calorie. Often times it's the dressing that gets you. Here is one list:

indy thats an interesting question...yes the rule is in effect, and I would not be surprised if someone questioned the humas. I have found the rule may be the same everywhere you go, but enforcement is not. I get told so many different things I have given up caring about it. One place makes me take my belt off, the other doesnt (i have a plastic buckle belt made for flying). One place makes you take your gels and liquids and put them in a quart back and put them through the xray separate, others simply dont care. I bet I leave my deo and toothpaste in my bag 85% of the time and am never questioned. One place says take your ipad out, the others let it go through ok.

What gets me is the fact that almost no matter where I go, there are 20 tsa employees standing near the security line and a full 10 of them are watching the other ten work. The government has become an employment agency.

Chef, you are well prepared! Good for you for making a plan, that is key. I had one WW leader who once asked us to set a goal for the Christmas holidays. Everyone assumed she meant that the goal had to be weight loss. But she reminded us that sometimes the goal could just be to maintain. Or perhaps your goal is to gain no more than 2 lbs. Of course, weight loss is totally possible too. But setting a goal may help you stay on track for the 9 days.
Can you bring food through security? When I am stuck in airports, I like to walk laps up and down the terminal. Interesting people watching too
Good luck, you can do it!

indy thats an interesting question...yes the rule is in effect, and I would not be surprised if someone questioned the humas....

I flew the day after the incident that resulted in the rule. Back then, you could not bring ANY kind of gel or liquid through security, no matter the size. You couldn't even bring an empty water bottle, fill it in the terminal and bring it on the plane. The TSA in Bismarck, ND confiscated my sealed, branded pack of mayo I had picked up to go with a pre-made sandwich from a supermarket.

Buy my favorite was when the TSA in Whitefish, MT refused to let me bring a pre-packaged. single-serve cup of pineapple through security. There was maybe a shot class-worth of liquid in the bottom. Clearly not 3 oz. But the packaging read 4 oz. My attempt to explain the difference between "Net Wt. 4 oz." and "4 Fl. Oz." fell on dumb brain cells. To top it all off, the agent said this: "I know it's pineapple. You know it's pineapple. But I still can't let you bring it through." Common sense is quickly becoming extinct.

It looks like you travel quite a bit. Can you get a folding bike/Bike Friday you can put in a suitcase to take with you? (I realize that for many of us, our weight would prohibit us from easily getting such a bike, but for others it might work).

Just planting seeds...

Cheers,
Charles

Good idea. Some trips it might work but most it would not work due to the hours of cooking and presenting and such. The gyms have been good though some really suck in the hotels

I am positive it can be done. Its not easy but it can be done. I try and find places like subway for lunch or dinner and eat in my room. I eat veggie subs, or occasionally tuna subs. Mexican or chinese and get rice and beans burritos, or rice and veggies...very filling and tasty to boot, and low calories. I hit grocery store salad bars once or twice a week when i am on the road for dinner...easy to get a large portion of lettuce and spinach with veggies thrown in, or even roast chicken if thats what you want for a bit more protein.

Most every restaurant I have been in will do custom items if you ask. Even when I was completely vegan I was able to make that work on the road.

I stay in hampton inns and have oatmeal with splenda and raisins for breakfast, or I take two slices of wheat toast and make a scrambled egg sandwich with hot sauce. There are always bananas or even yogurt if you want them.

It can get monotonous, and its a bit of peer pressure when you are in a business group, but I have yet to have any negative experiences. Last week I was with a client at lunch, and we went to a diner dive type place. Nothing on the menu was remotely healthy. I finally found what they called a veggie pancake. It was a huge pancake filled with roast veggies (the pancake was flipped in half like an omelet) I just asked for it without cheese, opened it up and ate the veggies...dont think anyone at the table even looked at me funny.

Good suggestions. If it was me or even with a client it would be easier. When other chefs are involved, thats where I get side tracked but I have some plans and will go from there. Just need to stay on track.

Chef, you are well prepared! Good for you for making a plan, that is key. I had one WW leader who once asked us to set a goal for the Christmas holidays. Everyone assumed she meant that the goal had to be weight loss. But she reminded us that sometimes the goal could just be to maintain. Or perhaps your goal is to gain no more than 2 lbs. Of course, weight loss is totally possible too. But setting a goal may help you stay on track for the 9 days.
Can you bring food through security? When I am stuck in airports, I like to walk laps up and down the terminal. Interesting people watching too
Good luck, you can do it!

Some food you can bring on. Got my Greek Yogurt confiscated last time though which sucked but it was ok to bring my hummus. Weird. I take apples, oranges, grapes, cheese, popcorn, hummus, carrots and my dinner which was roasted veggies and turkey meatballs.

One problem I see is that you may end up snacking AND then eating bad stuff out. Snacking is a huge problem in this country according to the book "Fat Land." If it were me, I would make it more difficult to snack by leaving them at home.

On the subject of salads, there are some healthy sounding salads at some chain places that are very high calorie. Often times it's the dressing that gets you. Here is one list:

Preday One: The flight

Everything went well yesterday. Had a late lunch before leaving for the airport and all my food was in the backpack including my dinner. No issues with TSA. Dinner was gooood and the snacks I enjoyed were the popcorn and grapes. All was well.